campaigns
150 Years Is Enough
The case for abolishing New Jersey’s youth prisons.
TOPICS
Decarceral Pathways
TESTING AND SHARING DECARCERAL IDEAS
95 posts in ‘Decarceral Pathways’
Essay
Beyond Private Prisons
Simply targeting the corporations caging migrants and other people for profit won’t create a future without mass incarceration.
interventions
The End of Public Defenders
One path to ending mass incarceration is ending our modern conception of public defense. And being transparent about our work is one way to start.
campaigns
A New Sheriff in Town
New Orleans’ newest jailer won’t get us out of our crisis of mass incarceration. But her election still matters as we build a safer, healthier community.
In Depth
Atonement
The American penal system renders invisible the many people in its grip who are working hard to make amends.
interventions
Mass Disenfranchisement
The scourge of plea bargaining is robbing millions of a different, and just as fundamental, kind of liberty.
In Depth
Home Rule
In weighing the future of thousands placed on home confinement during the pandemic, the government should prioritize where they are now: in their communities.
interventions
Abolition Is Public Health
The largest public health professional organization in the U.S. took a stand against carceral systems as fundamentally antithetical to public health. Here’s why that matters.
In the States
Moving Forward
After a clean sweep in November, Republicans are now running Virginia. But the prospect of more progress, and justice, remains within reach for all Virginians.
In Depth
Cages in the Coalfields
A growing carceral state has slowly replaced the coal industry in large swaths of Central Appalachia. But even here, a different future is possible.
interventions
Building Bridges
There’s a direct link between the penal system and community wellbeing. Here’s why, and how, I decided to teach that connection to a group of public-health students.
interventions
A Safer Cleveland
Our movement was born out of our shared grief. Our voices reminded voters that the police should never police themselves.
A closer look
Community Spread
People in counties with higher jail populations are getting sicker and dying younger. The data shows that mass incarceration is playing a role.
excerpt
Vulnerable Places
Entire communities are singularly exposed to punishment. Understanding how is central to combating mass incarceration.
In Depth
Saving Austin
Emboldened reactionaries tried to get voters to super-fund our city’s police force. But we out-organized them, and they lost badly. Here’s how we did it.
Politics
So Long, Cy
The end of the Cyrus Vance era at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office calls for a reckoning — and opens up opportunities for his successor.
As Told To
Surviving Everywhere
Clemency gave me a chance to tell my truth — a truth the criminal legal system made invisible.
public health
Treating Unfreedom
Practicing correctional medicine is fundamentally an exercise in harm reduction. And it’s no match for freedom itself.
In Their Words
Second Class
For public defenders in New York, representing clients unjustly criminalized for gun possession is a matter of principle. Now, they have the Supreme Court’s attention.
In Depth
Mass Clemency
In the age of mass incarceration, the president of can and should lead the nation by freeing from prison as many people as possible.
interventions
More Than a Number
Older New Yorkers are dying in state prison at an alarming rate. Once and for all, they need to come home to their families.
Essay
Radicalized at the Workhouse
The criminal legal system almost took my life from me. The anger that came after now fuels my life’s work.
interventions
Saying Their Names
How public defenders in New York City organized to speak up for those who have died on Rikers — and to keep others from going there.
voices
Divide and Conquer
For those of us on the inside who believe in prison abolition by any means necessary, prison closures really mean prison closures. The state and some of my fellow prisoners…
interventions
The True Jailers of Rikers
As demands grow louder for decarcerating and shutting down New York City’s deadly jail complex, judges and prosecutors have escaped accountability. But they’re the ones driving the crisis.
In Depth
‘Organizers Change What’s Possible’
Before bold, decarceral changes can become a reality, community organizers tirelessly move the policy needle in other ways. Here’s how they did it in Illinois.
interventions
Decarcerate Rikers Now
Nothing short of immediately getting people out of New York City's jail complex, and keeping others from going in, will prevent the death and horror now ravaging it.
As Told To
A Judge on a Mission
Here's how a former public defender elected to judicial office in New Orleans works to chip away at mass incarceration.
Decarceral Pathways
From Crisis to Care
For alternative responses to policing to work and reduce the footprint of the criminal legal system, they must work in concert and holistically to address both immediate and longer-term social…
Decarceral Pathways
Choosing Freedom
Would you rather have your wallet stolen on the street or spend two weeks in jail? How people answer this question can shed light on whether our detention policies make…